Translation center
Foreign works often feature on our bestseller lists, yet the work of translators is rarely given the attention it deserves. Translators make literature accessible across language barriers and bring stories to life in another language. Leipzig Book Fair is shining a spotlight on literary translation.
The Forum Translation at Leipzig Book Fair
The Forum Translation (formerly the Translation Centre) is the central hub for literary translation at Leipzig Book Fair. The programme is aimed at experienced translators as well as emerging talent, industry professionals and interested readers. The Forum Translation is a place for people to meet and exchange ideas, showcasing the many facets of this profession.
At the Forum Translation, literary translators can, on the one hand, further their professional development and exchange ideas with one another, whilst establishing and maintaining contacts within the industry and beyond. On the other hand, those interested have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with this exciting area of the literary world at the information stand, through specialist talks, panel discussions or hands-on activities.
This is where nominees for the Translation category of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize are presented, for example, as well as the prize-winner later in the fair. The audience can learn what makes a translation particularly successful, while at the same time meeting the people who make foreign-language texts accessible to us. Areas that often go overlooked are thus quite deliberately brought into the limelight.
This cooperative project is jointly supported by the Association of German-speaking Translators of Literary and Scientific Works ( VdÜ ), Leipzig Book Fair and the German Translator's Fund .
The German name of the forum is "Forum Übersetzen/Salon International". The Forum Translation is located in hall 4, stand C403.
The origins of Forum Translation – anniversary year 2025
The Leipzig Book Fair Forum Translation – a stage for the art of translation – celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2025. It was founded in 2015 by a group of dedicated literary translators together with the professional association (VdÜ) and the German Translators’ Fund (DÜF) in order to raise public awareness of the diverse and multifaceted field of literary translation, because without translations, world literature would simply not be accessible to the vast majority of people.
In this anniversary year, curators Maria Hummitzsch, Bettina Bach and Franka Reinhart had once again put together an extensive programme with a particular focus on the human factor in the translation process.
